Apparatus for feeding boxes



D. R. GARDNER APPARATUS FOR FEEDING BOXES Aug. 5, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 2, 1955 INVENTOR. OW/gh/ 1?. Gardner Aug. 19 8 R. GARDNER2,846,116

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING BOXES Filed Feb. 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lINVENTOR.

Dwighf R Gardner United States Patent F APPARATUS FOR FEEDING BOXESDwight R. Gardner, Holyoke, Mass, assignor to The American ThreadCompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationFebruary 2, 1955, Serial No. 485,779

2 Claims. (Cl. 221-67) The present invention relates to apparatus forfeeding boxes from a magazine and delivering them to a box fillingmachine, or for other purposes.

Certain machines for making cardboard boxes having open tops deliver theboxes therefrom arranged in stacked relation with their ends telescopingalternately, the flexibility of the sides of the boxes permitting suchtelescoping of their ends. One of the objects of the present inventionis to provide an apparatus having a magazine adapted to receive theboxes thus arranged, and means for successively disengaging the boxesfrom each other and feeding them from the magazine.

Another of the objects of the invention is to provide novel and improvedapparatus for feeding boxes from a magazine and delivering them to a boxfilling machine, or for other purposes.

The several features of the invention, whereby these and other objectsmay be attained, will be readily understood from the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side view, partly in section and with certain parts brokenaway, of an apparatus embodying the features of the invention in theirpreferred form;

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view, taken substantially on the line 2-2 ofFig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on theline 33 of Fig. 2.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawing is particularly adapted forfeeding cartons or boxes 2 of the type having open tops, such assmallcardboard boxes commonly used for embroidery skeins and other articles.

The boxes as shown and as they come from certain box-making machinesabove referred to are arranged in a stack with their ends telescopingalternately as shown in Fig. 1, the stack being placed in a magazine 4.This magazine comprises a bottom wall or plate 6 on which the stackrests, and two pairs of vertical angle irons 8 and 10 which projectupwardly from the plate, and are secured together by suitably arrangedbraces 12 to which the angle irons are secured by bolts 14. The front ofthe magazine may be closed by a door 16, the door being removed in Fig.l for clarity.

The lower ends of one side of each of the angle irons 8 and 10 are cutaway as shown at 11, Fig. 3, to provide openings at both the left andright hand sides of the magazine of suitable size to permit the boxes inthe stack to be fed from the bottom plate of the magazine either to theright or left.

The boxes are adapted to be thus fed from the magazine, by means of apusher 18 which is in the form of a cylindrical cap and is secured onthe upper end of a pin 19 secured to the free end of a lever 20 whichhas its other end secured on a rock shaft 22. The pin 19 below thepusher extends upwardly through a clearance slot 24 in the bottom plate6 of the magazine, the slot being concentric with the axis of the shaft22.

With this construction, it will be apparent that upon oscillatingmovement of the lever 20, the pusher 18 may Patented Aug. 5, 1958 engagethe untelescoped end of the box at the bottom of the stack, as shown inFig. 1, and push it toward the left and from the magazine. As thisoccurs, the upper edge of said untelescoped end, by engagement with thebottom of the overlying box, raises the latter out of telescopingengagement with the bottom box, and, when the box is discharged, thestack drops down upon the bottom plate. Upon the return movement of thepusher 18, it engages the untelescoped end of the next box and pushesthis box from the magazine from left to right in the opposite directionfrom which the preceding bottom box was discharged. Thus the boxes,although nested or telescopingly arranged as described, are uniformlydischarged alternately from opposite sides of the magazine.

As the boxes are thus discharged left or right from themagazine, theydrop downwardly upon the upper run of a belt conveyor 26 which conveysthem in spaced relation and delivers them to a track 28 or other guidingmeans over which they may be fed by a pusher 29 or other means to thebox feeding devices of a box filling machine, for example the boxfeeding devices of the machine of the patent to Standish, No. 2,331,004,dated October 4, 1943.

The boxes are guided as they leave the magazine by side plates 30between which the boxes pass and by guiding members 32 beneath which theboxes pass to the conveyor 26, the left hand guiding member 32 having adepending portion 34 for limiting the distance that the boxes may beejected to the left as they are discharged from the left hand side ofthe magazine. Thus the boxes are received on the conveyor in properspaced positions and in alinement. The boxes are further guided as theyare carried by the conveyor by means of guide rails 36 adjacent theedges of the upper run of the conveyor, these rails projecting upwardlyfrom the longitudinal edges of supporting plates 37.

The belt conveyor 26 passes over pulleys 38 mounted on shaftsjournaledin bearings on brackets secured to the plates 37. The left hand pulleyshaft is driven through a sprocket chain 40 which passes over sprocketwheels on said shaft and on a shaft 42 which may be driven by anelectric motor indicated at 44.

The rock shaft 22 is oscillated to operate the pusherto be successivelyengaged by a pawl 64 pivotally mounted on a gear 66 that is looselymounted on the shaft 48. The pawl 64 is held against the surface of theratchet wheel 60 by means of a coiled tension spring 68. The gear 66 isoperatively engaged by a rack 70. To prevent over-running of the shaft4%, split brake shoes 72 engage the shaft, the shoes being pressedtogether by means of an adjustable compression spring 74 on a bolt 76.

The rack 70 may be operatively connected with the pusher or other boxfeeding mechanism of the box filling machine through any suitable means(not shown).

Upon movement of the rack 74 toward the right, the gear 66 is rotateddegrees in a clockwise direction, thus carrying the pawl 64, 180 degreesaround the ratchet wheel 60 to position it in engagement with its othertooth 62. During the movement of the rack '70 toward the left, the gear66 is rotated 180 degrees in the opposite direction, orcounterclockwise. During this movement, the pawl 64, through the ratchetwheel, rotates the shaft 48 in a counterclockwise direction 180 degrees,thus moving the pusher 18 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to 3 theleft-hand end of the slot 24, thus pushing the bottom box of the stackto the left from the magazine.

During the next movement ofthe rack 70, toward the right, the gear 66carries the pawl 64 into position to engage the opposite tooth of theratchet wheel 60. Thus, upon the next movement of the rack 70 toward theleft, the ratchet wheel 60 is again rotated 180 degrees in acounter-clockwise direction as before, and thus the pusher 18' isreturned to the position shown in Fig. 2 During such movement, thebottommost box in the stack is discharged from the right-hand side ofthe magazine.

It will be noted that by operating the pusher and the conveyor 26' intimed relation the boxes may be conveyed by and pass from the conveyorat any desired predetermined timed and spaced relation, and at anydesired speed to meet the requirements of the box filling machine, orfor other purposes.

It will be apparent that with the apparatus and in accordance with themethod described, the boxes stacked with their ends telescoping as theycome from the boxmaking machine, are uniformly discharged from oppositesides of the magazine and conveyed to the filling machine, and their isno danger of the boxes jamming or becoming disarranged in the magazineor as they are conveyed. Thus restacking of the boxes in the magazine isunnecessary, and substantially twice the number of boxes may be placedin the magazine than is possible with unnested boxes. It will also beapparent that an important feature of the invention is the successivefeeding of the boxes in such a manner that each box as it is fed, bysliding engagement with the adjacent box, disengages itself fromtelescoping engagement with the latter box, and thus the feeding of eachbox is effected Without disarranging the other boxes in the stack.Instead of feeding the boxes from the bottom of the stack as described,it will be apparent that they may be similarly fed from the top of astack if desired.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for automatically and successively eject ing boxes inopposite directions from a stacked series comprising a substantiallyvertical magazine for receiving boxes having open tops, said boxes beingarranged in a stack in said magazine with their ends telescopingalternately, said magazine having oppositely disposed side openingsadjacent the bottom thereof through which individual boxes may beejected from said stacked series, a pusher adapted to be oscillated toengage on alternate sides of the magazine the untelescoped ends of theboxes and to successively eject the boxes in opposite directions fromthe magazine through the openings therein, and means for oscillatingsaid pusher including a reciprocating rack, a gear operatively engagedby said rack whereby said gear is oscillated during the reciprocation ofsaid rack, a shaft on which said gear is rotatively mounted, a ratchetwheel secured on said shaft adjacent one side of said gear, said wheelhaving diametrically disposed ratchet teeth, a spring pressed pawlpivotally mounted on the side of said gear adjacent said wheel andadapted to engage the teeth on said ratchet wheel whereby during sucv bysaid gear is oscillated during the reciprocation of saidcessiveoscillation of the gear the pawl alternately engages the teeth of theratchet wheel to effect rotation of said shaft in one direction, a cranksecured on said shaft, a lever having said pusher mounted on one endthereof, a rock shaft having secured thereto the other end of saidlever, connections between said crank and said rock shaft to effectoscillation of said rock shaft, lever and pusher in opposite directionswhereby said pusher successively ejects boxes from said magazine throughtheoppositely disposed openings in said magazine.

2. An apparatus for automatically and successively ejecting boxes inopposite directions from a stacked series comprising a substantiallyvertical magazine for receiving boxes having open tops, said boxes beingarranged in a stack in said magazine with their ends telescopingalternately, said magazine having a base plate for supporting said stackof boxes, said magazine having oppositely disposed side openingsadjacent the base plate through which individual boxes may be ejectedfrom said stacked series, a pusher adapted to be oscillated to engage onalternate sides of the magazine the untelescoped ends of the boxes andto successively eject the boxes in opposite directions from the magazinethrough the openings therein, and means for oscillating said pusherincluding a reciprocating rack, a gear operatively engaged by said rackwhererack, a shaft on which said gear is rotatively mounted, a'ratchetwheel secured on said shaft adjacent one side of said gear, said wheelhaving diametrically disposed ratchet teeth, a spring pressed pawlpivotally mounted on the side of said gear adjacent said wheel andadapted to engage the teeth on said ratchet wheel whereby duringsuccessive oscillation of the gear the pawl alternately engages theteeth of the ratchet wheel to effect rotation of said shaft in onedirection, a crank secured on said shaft, alever having said pushermounted on one end thereof, a rock shaft having secured thereto theother end of said lever, the base plate of said magazine having a slottherein concentric with said rock shaft, said pusher extending throughsaid slot into said magazine for engagement with the untelescoped endsof said boxes, connections between said crank and said rock shaft toeffect oscillation of said rock shaft, lever and pusher in oppositedirections whereby said pusher during its movement in said slotsuccessively ejects boxes from said magazine through the oppositelydisposed openings in said magazine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,133,143 Hogan Mar. 23, 1915 1,538,851 Goss May 19, 1925 1,943,444Knowlton Jan. 16, 1934 2,188,759 Redd Jan. 30, 1940 2,253,793 Leimer Aug26, 1941 2,280,218 Cook Apr. 21, 1942 2,539,652 Amberg et a1 Jan. 30,1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 184.064 Switzerland Dec. 16, 1936

